The National Union of Romanian Hauliers (UNTRR) welcomes the political agreement reached regarding the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania and Bulgaria's air and sea borders starting from March 2024, but calls on Romanian and European authorities to also establish a clear date for the enforcement of the Schengen visa-free rules for land borders as well, starting in 2024."Schengen accession is an important and much-awaited step by Romanian passengers and transport operators, which should have been achieved as early as in 2011, when the European institutions found that Romania meets all the technical requirements for admission. Given that all passenger data are at the disposal of air transport operators, the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania's air borders could have been accomplished a long time ago. There is obviously no justification of a technical nature for the delay, the reasons are political, the members of the EU club have chosen to punish Romania and Bulgaria and reduce their competitiveness all this time, curbing their development potential. Yet now, Romania's joining the Schengen with the land borders is an emergency for road freight carriers whose efficiency is currently severely penalized through the extremely long waiting times (about 30 - 36 hours daily between Romania and Bulgaria) and for coach operators, in order to avoid the significant administrative burden arising from the new obligations of verifying passenger data in the European EES and ETIAS travel registration and authorization systems starting from next year," UNTRR secretary general Radu Dinescu said, as cited in a release of the organization.According to a report conducted by UNTRR this year on the impact on road freight of Romania being kept out of Schengen, the industry incurred losses of 2.41 billion euros."We request the urgent setting of a definite date for Romania's Schengen entry with land borders too, and if there are certain special requirements, they should be clearly mentioned in order to have a precise reference regarding the accession calendar and the goals to be achieved. The criteria the other members of the EU club want Romania and Bulgaria to fulfill must not exceed the general framework and the technical requirements for admission," said Dinescu.UNTRR representatives point out that the road transport industry, which with 7.66 billion euros in 2022 is Romania's largest exporter of services, is the economic branch most affected by Romania being kept out of Schengen.
Céline Gauer, the director general of the Recovery and Resilience Task Force (or RECOVER) at the European Commission, arrived in Romania on Tuesday, July 15, to meet with officials regarding the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, or PNRR. As the coordinator of the PNRR, which offers funding in the form of advantageous […]
Aluminium producer ALRO, a subsidiary of Vimetco PLC from Cyprus, celebrated 28 years on the Romanian stock exchange (BVB) and 60 years of uninterrupted industrial activity. Its market capitalization has increased nearly 21 times since its listing and now exceeds RON 1 billion. The company’s history began with the first batch of Romanian aluminium, on June […]
Something is quietly shifting in Romania. In places where paperwork, patchy Wi-Fi, and long queues once ruled, change is starting to show. Towns are more connected, cities are getting smarter, and essential services are beginning to live online, not in line. A tidal wave of digitisation is common to other areas of the globe, that’s […]
Several segments in Romania's A7 and A8 highway projects have lost funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) due to project delays, the minister of investments and European projects, Dragoș Pîslaru, announced on Tuesday, July 15, as reported by Biziday.ro. He did not specify which segments of these highways were affected. The statement […]
Real estate developer Redport and businessman Dan Șucu officially inaugurated the showroom for their latest residential project, Vitality Est, and announced the start of construction work on the site near Pantelimon Park and Lake in eastern Bucharest. The project, estimated at EUR 50 million, will include 500 apartments and 400 square meters of commercial space. […]
According to an analysis from real estate consultant Colliers based on National Bank of Romania data, Romanians spent more than EUR 3 billion on international travel in the first four months of 2025, 15% more than in the same period of 2024. If the current pace continues, Romanians’ spending on foreign holidays and business travel […]
